Chicken Sausage and Broccoli Zucchini Pasta with Parmesan
Try this Chicken Sausage and Broccoli Zucchini Pasta with Parmesan recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Chicken Sausage and Broccoli Zucchini Pasta with Parmesan recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 1.26147718782333 g
- Cholesterol 235.500000007008 mg
- Fat 47.9919821897784 g
- Fiber 0.0706499973535538 g
- Protein 59.6379278155628 g
- Saturated Fat 14.3022327097111 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (316g)
- Sodium 347.587890746765 mg
- Sugar 1.19082719046977 g
- Trans Fat 4.04073864597357 g
- Calories 691 calories
Step-by-step
- Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once skillet is heated, add in the chicken sausage, crumbling with a wooden spoon. Cook for 5 minutes or until browned on the outside and then add in the garlic and broccoli. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and stir well.
- Add in the chicken broth and cook, covered, for 5-7 minutes or until broccoli is fork tender and chicken sausage is cooked all the way through.
- Once the broccoli and sausage is almost fully cooked, add in the zucchini noodles and toss well to combine. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until zucchini is al dente.
- Add in the parmesan cheese and toss well, off heat, until combined.
- Divide the pasta into bowls and serve.
Why are my zucchini noodles floating in a puddle of water? This is the exact realization home cooks face halfway through making a vegetable-based noodle dish, usually right after the salt draws out the cellular moisture of the squash and transforms a dry skillet into a soup. Zucchini is composed of over ninety percent water, and unless that moisture is actively managed through heat and timing, it will ruin the texture of the sauce entirely.
The solution relies entirely on sequence and thermal control, specifically by introducing the zucchini noodles only during the final three to five minutes of cooking after the denser broccoli and protein have already begun to soften. Cooking the sausage and broccoli in a skillet over medium-high heat with low-sodium chicken broth creates a concentrated flavorful base, and covering the pan traps steam to cook the broccoli florets until fork-tender without burning the minced garlic. Adding the zucchini noodles late ensures they reach an al dente bite without releasing excess liquid that would otherwise dilute the grated parmesan cheese added off the heat.
Because zucchini releases water rapidly as it sits, this dish does not lend itself well to freezing or long-term refrigerator storage; leftover zucchini noodles will break down into a watery mush upon reheating. When adapting this method with yellow crookneck squash or thin asparagus ribbons, maintain the strict sequencing rules to prevent waterlogging the pan.
